In re Wrongful Death of Turner

In In re Wrongful Death of Turner (Nov. 25, 1998), Champaign App. No. 92 CA 2, the Court noted that the definition of "abandonment" in R.C. 2125.02(G)(3) is worded in the conjunctive, and we interpreted that statute, stating: "If the parent has performed any one of the three parental acts contained within the statute in the year prior to his or her child's death, a finding of abandonment is precluded." Id. Based on this interpretation of R.C. 2125.02(G)(3), we concluded that the father in Turner had not abandoned his child when there was evidence that he had some communication with his son within one year of his son's death, even though the father had failed to pay any support for his son and had never taken any steps toward formally acknowledging the child as his son. The Tenth District adopted our interpretation of R.C. 2125.02(G)(3) and stated that "the estate and the mother had the burden of proving that the father failed to take all three actions described in the statute in order to establish abandonment, and evidence that the father took any of the actions, if believed, would preclude a finding of abandonment." In re Estate of Barnett-Clardy, Franklin App. Nos. 07AP-55, 07AP-257, 2007 Ohio 6783, P15.